


You could be the one for me

by pterawaters



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Best Friends in Love, Cargument, Comfort, Euphemisms, Humor, M/M, POV Steve, Season/Series 05, Second-Hand Embarrassment, Sucky proposals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-21 02:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3674049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pterawaters/pseuds/pterawaters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone keeps leaving Danny, except for Steve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You could be the one for me

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks much to cheerleader and beta, [ripped-up-jeans-and-glitter](http://ripped-up-jeans-and-glitter.tumblr.com/)!

Steve watches Danny out of the corner of his eye, keeping most of his field of vision on the road ahead of them. He keeps wondering if he should pull over so Danny can have this conversation in private, but so far Danny doesn't seem to remember that Steve is sitting right next to him.

"Yeah, no. Okay," Danny says into the phone, his voice almost as tight as the white-knuckled grip Danny has on the edge of the armrest between them. "Yeah. I understand. Now that he's dead, you can get back to your old life. Who wouldn't want that?"

Steve pulls up to a light and stares at it, hoping the force of his mind will make it turn green more quickly. Not that they need to be anywhere quickly. Steve's just driving them from the office to Kamekona's shrimp truck. It's only a few more blocks up the road. It's just the sooner they get there, the sooner Steve can break free from this awkward situation.

When Danny suddenly cries, "I'm not angry!" Steve almost draws his weapon in surprise. He doesn't, though, and Danny continues on his rant. "Why would I be angry? I mean this two week trip is turning into a forever-moved-back-to-New-York trip. Why would I be angry about never seeing you again?"

_Oh_. Steve winces to himself and keeps driving. He doesn't think about the similar conversation he had with Catherine almost a year ago. His heart hurts for Danny, but Steve isn't quite sure what to do about it. 

"Yeah, okay. Fine. Bye," Danny says, closing down his phone and heaving a giant sigh. After a moment, he looks over at Steve and says, "Sorry about that."

Steve makes a right turn and replies, "Hey, don't worry about it."

Danny sighs again, his eyes out the window. Instead of heading toward the beach, Steve makes a left onto the highway, hoping the ocean view will help Danny calm down. It doesn't. 

"Is there something wrong with me?" Danny asks, his voice high and strained. He doesn't mention the detour. 

"No," Steve replies reflexively. Still, he's worried about Danny's state of mind, so Steve can't help but ask, "Why?"

"Because," Danny says, sinking deeper into his seat and sighing yet again. He's facing out the window as he continues. "Look, in the last fifteen years, I've been in three relationships. Each and every time, it ends with the woman up and leaving the state to get away from me. I mean, that can't be a coincidence!"

Steve licks his dry lips as he tries to figure out how to respond. "I, well …" he says, off to a great start. "It's an island, Danny. People move away all the time."

Danny shakes his head. "God, it's– You know, aside from my parents, _you're_ the person who's stuck with me the longest?"

Steve thinks that can't be right. "What about Rachel?"

"Rachel and I were only together for four years before we split up." Danny says, his smile rueful and sad. "You and I have been partners for five."

Steve pulls over onto one of the outlooks and puts the car in park. The ocean is thirty feet below them and stretching out as far as the eye can see. "Hey," he says to Danny, reaching over to squeeze Danny's arm. "I love ya. You know that, right?"

Danny laughs, nodding as he rubs one of his eyes. "Maybe I should just marry you, huh?" He grins and sticks his chin out, almost like he's bracing for a blow.

Steve snorts, and decides to go with it. "Yeah, maybe you should, Danny."

Danny giggles, delighted and the sound makes Steve's chest relax. "Can you _imagine_?" Danny snorts and pushes a hand back through his hair. "We tried living together, and remember how well that worked? And the stakeout?"

Steve nods, acknowledging that yeah, it was pretty bad. Still... "Hey, I got a guitar out of that stake out. At least I know you'd give good anniversary presents."

"I am a _fantastic_ gift giver, Steven." Danny smiles, and Steve realizes how thoroughly he's gotten used to seeing that smile every day. 

The joke is out of Steve's mouth before he can stop it. "Yeah, but how good are you at receiving…gifts?"

Danny blinks for a moment, his mouth dropping open. For one terrifying second, Steve thinks he's crossed some line, but then Danny lets out a loud guffaw. "Oh, my god!" Danny smacks Steve's shoulder backhand.

Steve grins, glad he's cheering Danny up. He turns back to the steering wheel, putting his hand on the shifter.

Before Steve gets a chance to shift the car into drive, Danny says, "I– I don't actually know how I'd be at receiving…gifts. No one's ever offered to give me gifts before."

Steve concludes that there's no possible way Danny's talking about actual gifts. Steve has given Danny several gifts over the years. In truth, Danny's talking euphemistically. About receiving … gifts. Steve clears his throat and says, "I've only ever given _gifts_ to women."

"Hey, me too!" Danny says, smiling with his tongue peeking out from between his teeth. "And look how well that's going for both of us, hm?"

Steve tilts his head in agreement. "You've got a point. I'm just not sure marrying each other," Steve points back and forth between himself and Danny, "is the right answer."

"We'd save on housing costs," Danny says with a shrug, facing forward like he expects Steve to get them back on the road.

Like he expects Steve to just forget this _possibility_ between them. Steve scratches his eyebrow for a moment, then says, "We already eat most of our meals together."

"This is true." Danny looks back at Steve, one eyebrow raised. "Seriously, what about our day-to-day lives would change? Really?"

"Not much," Steve admits. "I don't know whether to be disturbed by that or not."

Danny laughs again, pointing at Steve. "Oh, you should be disturbed, my friend. You should be very disturbed."

Steve laughs as well, the familiar swell of affection making his chest feel tight. He puts the car into gear and pulls out onto the road, making a quick U-turn to head back toward Kamekona's. A few hundred feet down, mostly just to see what will happen, he says, "Alright."

"Alright?" Danny replies, sounding amused, and a little impressed. When Steve glances over, Danny's staring at Steve, a funny little smirk on his face and his eyebrows high on his forehead. 

Steve rolls his eyes. "Yeah. Sure. Let's do it."

Danny scoffs. "Steven."

"Yes, dear?" Steve exits the highway so they can start moving down in elevation, toward the beach. 

"If that was your idea of a proposal, it– well…" Danny gestures out with one hand.

Curious, Steve asks, "It what?"

"It _sucked_ ," Danny cries. Steve honestly can't tell whether Danny's playing him or not. "'Alright'? What sort of proposal is that?"

"Maybe I want you to ask me," Steve says right back, a little confused, but mostly just invigorated and amused by the bickering. Like he always has been. "Huh?"

"I could do that," Danny says, leaning closer to Steve with his elbow on the armrest between them. "I've had the practice, after all. Maybe third proposal's the charm."

"Third?" Steve asks, stopping at another red light. He thinks back, trying to remember Danny mentioning having been married before Rachel.

"Sixth grade," Danny says. "Megan Archer. Turned me down right on the spot." He shrugs.

"Clearly she had her priorities straight," Steve says, grinning at Danny, who lightly smacks Steve with the back of his hand. 

"If I ask you to marry me," Danny says as Steve pulls into one of the beachside parking stalls, "are you gonna say yes?"

Steve thinks about the question for a moment. He should probably say that he wouldn't accept the proposal. If Danny's being at all serious – and given the fact that he's just been dumped, he might be – Steve doesn't want to give him false hope. But then Steve thinks about waking up next to Danny in the mornings and watching movies with him at night and having all of their things in one house and he just… "I'll think about saying yes."

Steve gets out of the car. He wants to keep walking without looking back, but he needs to see how Danny's doing. Danny's just a few paces behind and catching up quick. Danny says, "Buy me lunch?"

Steve throws an arm around Danny's shoulders. "Yeah, sure thing, babe."

Danny smells nice, and familiar, and Steve can't remember the last time he loved someone as thoroughly and as fiercely as he loves Danny.

Steve thinks that if Danny ever does get the stones to propose, he's probably going to say yes.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me [on tumblr](http://pterawaters.tumblr.com/).


End file.
